June 24, 2019

As usual, it is a free visual scheduler for personal use. Whenever you post something about it, please do hashtag #chronodex and give credit. I've been using it for >7 years and I hope you find it very useful too. Don't hesitate to join the Chronodex Facebook page and share your experience.

Back in time a bit, when the Little Printer was still available, I had great fun with it since there were a lot of contents I could subscribe to. It was a pity the service was discontinued and the product is no longer produced. I did created a daily Chronodex subscription with check list and space to write gratitude note for the service, well it is history now. Thanks to a group of enthusiasts who are into IOT, with a few coding and collaborative efforts the basic service is now back online for owners who still have the cute little cube, I'm so happy about it and have been printing text and images out for fun, thanks to the folks at Nord Projects.

A lot has happened in Hong Kong lately, so I'm trying to speed things up to catch up with lost time. I'm heading Tokyo for business in a day, hope we can come up with something amazing soon. In the mean time, if you are planning for a trip to Hong Kong and you are a fan of Traveler's Notebook and Manual Factory, please do reserve your time for 28th July!

August 11, 2018

2018 is a great year when finally I spared enough time to make the first licensed Chronodex real.

Chronodex visual scheduler and task management on MD Paper, a pack of 3pcs in A5 size. It is gonna be released exclusively @logonhk Festival Walk store on 1st Sep for the MD Paper 10th Anniversary event in Hong Kong. The limited production was made possible thanks to LOG-ON and Designphil teams. It is Chronodex’s first ever licensed product, I’m tremendously thankful for those of you who support and respect original design.

On the left of the spread is the most updated Chronodex version. On top there are icons reminding you to drink enough water and recording the day's weather, they are there to help you take a little time off from a busy day. There's also "Today's Focus" so you can write down what's the most important thing of the day. The "Gratitude Note" is for you to summarize the day with reflection, appreciating even small pleasant things instead of bringing home just a tired body.

On the right, there are sections to capture your random thoughts, things you personally want to do but may not be a good time, things that are less important so perhaps later, things to be captured in various projects. Most importantly, there are 3 columns to capture important to-dos. They are "5 min.", "15 min." and ">30 min." sections, whenever you need to capture a task, instead of pouring everything into one big inbox, you take 1 second to determine if they are tasks that can be finished within a few minutes or you need to spend more time, this is very important because when things are accumulating, it is so overwhelming you start to ignore the huge list. This helps you to have a better grasp of TIME needed to complete those tasks, you choose to be easy to yourself this hour and dive deep into time consuming tasks the next, or the other way around, which gives you a sense of control.

Anyway, this is just one of the many possible ways to manage your day, it gives me pleasure to do scheduling and task management like it's a game. I hope many of you will benefit from it.

This limited Chronodex edition is part of the celebration of MD Paper 10th Anniversary in LOG-ON Festival Walk store. The event will also feature selling MD Paper blocks by weight, special event only stamps and pencils, exhibits from 4 professional users, workshops from talented @kalomakeartand @Pooi_chin. Any purchase of MD Paper product over HK$300 will also get you this event only tote bag!

Why the first licensed Chronodex is released on MD Paper? Coz I admire how Designphil/Midori meticulously manage their product quality and never succumb to cheap ideas to exploit great brands. This is true with Traveler's Notebook and MD Paper Product brands I know deeply of. Besides, the people behind these brands are my heroes, I'm so glad to be part of their initiatives.

Since it was released and it was updated in the Chronodex page and I forgot to update this main page. Here you go.

Chronodex Weekly Planner Jul-Dec 2018 is now released! I wish it was earlier but yeah this weekend is probably a good time for you to prepare it for the next 6 months’ visual/radial scheduling/journaling.

December 20, 2017

Stepping into the sixth year of public release, wow! Let me just say thanks to all Chronodex supporters, I believe it does change lives, especially for us visual thinkers. Everyday since I created it, I enjoy moments of tranquility by just slowing down and reflecting on my agendas and thoughts through using it. Sometimes the happenings around the core are calligraphic, sometimes scribbles and many times something in between, but most importantly the space the Chronodex core freed up for creative association becomes a life saver, for time and space are actually the very same thing, if you have learned enough in life how to deal with limited resources, you know space as in blank space on paper or in time-out for thoughts is often being traded off by task specific time demand from others. It pains us isn't it? When do we get our own time? The answer is clear to me, we steal time, we demand/redeem time in the form of space, after all 95% of task specific time demand from others are trivial, unimportant for your life goal. Well, the percentage varies person to person but you get my point.

Having said that, I recall a wise director from the company I work for once said, "I am going to be conscious of the energy I spend instead of the time I spend on work", you simply have to find a way to be conscious, still responsive, not just reacting from circumstances, just be conscious while you are being busy, you will see the difference.

A final note about being conscious and self-discovery. If you can write down your thoughts, they can be materialised, the path will be cleared.

June 16, 2017

All of a sudden, half of 2017 has passed and it's time to release the latest Chronodex weekly planner.

The first half for me was pretty fruitful for work but kind of lacking behind for personal projects, almost like putting on hold. Can't let that happen and I'm re-calibrating overall priorities, just need to schedule some get away time from everything. I hope by just looking at the Chronodex dial, it can at least give you a sense of control and believing that you can. In a recent Traveler's Notebook gathering in Malaysia, a fan told me she couldn't start using Chronodex because it is kind of intimidating and she feels nervous using it. My answer is simple, if you can look at a clock to manage your time, you can use Chronodex to be in control, just don't feel obligated to use it, it should encourage your free flowing of scheduling rather than limiting.

It is not lineal, it is radial. It is for people who think spatially and creatively, it is for fun and it gives you a more natural perspective of time in relation to your tasks and schedules, it rescues space on your pages instead of letting a traditional grid format limit what you can do with the empty space.

You can leave it blank and contemplate or you can fill it up with all the details each day, most importantly I hope you leave yourself a gratitude note everyday, believing that your time is well spent, for work and families. After all, time is the only resource we can't reclaim.

You can use it to plan your future schedule, changing is easy if you use pencil to begin with.

It is always good to finish a week by reviewing how you've spent your time. Simply go back to the week and use colours to label the sections according to your verdicts, for example Red for time spent on tasks you hate, Blue for pleasant periods. Soon you will be able to identify patterns, "how come I've spent so little time to do this?" "Why do I keep repeating these nonsense?" Perhaps you can start the next week by planning something pleasant, or change the way you handle tasks productively.

You shade a larger slice if the appointment/task is Important. There are 3 levels of priorities. The area size, particularly if you colour the area, is a great way to help you register/memorise the whole week's schedule in your brain. For example, visually at the top right hand corner (Wednesday) something is marked Red at the bottom right hand corner of the dial (4pm section).

March 27, 2017

Wow time flies, I forgot to put a blog post about the released Jan-Jun 2017 Chronodex although the link to download was being updated in the Chronodex page. So for the record, do try out this visual method of planning/recording your date related tasks. Download Jan-Jun 2017 Chronodex Weekly Planner here.

While you are cutting away the edges of the 2017 Chronodex pages, don't throw away those left over paper stripes, simply clip them together and you get 68 faces of paper for your to-do list!

June 28, 2016

Out of many sleepy nights after a demanding day job, I've put my heart into every edition. This time, like the last, I've included some motivational quotes in every week so that we can deal with out lives with positive vibes. I hope you like it. If you are new to Chronodex, check out the "Chronodex" link on top of this page to see the whole story and evolution of the visual scheduler. Do go to the Chronodex Facebook page too and share your thoughts and usage tips with each other.

If you don't know yet, there is a version I published in April for the amazing Michael Jecks, author of dozens of novels, a Master of Medieval Murder Mystery. Some time ago I figured from his YouTube channel "WriterlyWitterings" that he uses Chronodex as his scheduler, we had a few chat over email and he was kind enough to share how he was using it but there was a certain way he would love to rearrange the elements, so I made this Michael Jecks edition and shared with the community. Check out his adventures with Chronodex on his blog and I'm sure he will be posting some YouTube videos about it soon.

Finally, I've been using the Chronodex Daily Scheduler with GTD To-Do List for a while now and it never failed me, it gives me several chances to review my task list on daily basis and often reminds me to drink water (in addition to a lot of coffee) and write a daily gratitude note to myself. I hope you like it too.

So, wish I could do more blog posts, but as you know, there are a lot of outstanding things at work and in my personal life, I am trying my best.

December 15, 2015

This implementation is featuring weekly inspiration quotes on every Monday to give you a fresh start for each week. Topics included are art, motivation, life, inspiration, love, work, etc. I’m sure you will enjoy the little thoughtful addition for your weekly Chronodexing :) DOWNLOAD HERE.

In addition, don't forget my other very useful tool Chronodex Daily Scheduler with GTD To-Do List, which is in A4 size, when printed double sided you can 3-fold into a very slim format (Traveler's Notebook size) tackling all your tasks in stressless manner. Combining the dated Chronodex and this GTD version, you can practice "relaxed focus" as proposed by David Allen.

(use it flat as individual pages)

(Or you can fold it two times, insert it into the front or back pocket of your Traveler's Notebook, or slide it under one of the elastic bands in your notebook)

If you are new to Chronodex, the Chronodex page on this blog contains all the versions I released so far with useful notes. Visit the Chronodex Facebook page to check out what others are doing with it. Finally, my Instagram is where I post most of my works and thoughts on stationery... and beyond :) Hashtag #Chronodex to spread the love!

November 13, 2015

To show the true brass color beneath the brand new Y-studio pen, with the double benefit of releasing stress, here's what I did. Oh yes, I'm totally in need to write more blog entries instead of worrying trivial work stuffs.

July 22, 2015

It was a happy coincidence last year when I visited Tokyo I met Mr. Narita who was the contractor to build both the Traveler's Factory Nakameguro store and the Narita Airport store. I was blessed to see some of the sketches at times before the stores were built.

Courtesy from Mr. Narita on his Flickr site, you can see "the making of " photos from the former paper factory situated in Nakameguro Tokyo to the current Traveler's Factory principle store. From stories I heard, it was built with a lot of hearts from choosing the site, material specification and sourcing, sign painting to the product selection. It is definitely one of the classic stores in our lifetime.

Walter Isaacson: Steve JobsLove hearing the stories all over again, some of them especially what happened in the past few years are new to me. Most importantly it is a closer portrait of Steve than all other books about him. Isaacson recorded audios during his interview with Steve, check out 60 minutes special and you will hear Steve's own voice. RIP Steve. (****)